Man, 40, booked in robbery spree

Man, 40, booked in robbery spree

LAFAYETTE — Police booked a man Wednesday in a crime spree over the past two weeks, including the robberies at gunpoint of people in four vehicles.

Police arrested Dylan Alfred, 40, Wednesday morning after he grabbed a woman’s purse in the 4500 block of Johnston Street, according to a Lafayette Police Department news release.

The woman had just parked her vehicle and was getting out when a man asked her for the time, police said.

When she looked down, the man snatched her purse, pushed her to the ground and then fled in a silver van, according to police.

Officers tracked Alfred down a few hours later driving the van, which police said had been stolen at gunpoint Dec. 12 from a woman as she unloaded it on Foreman Drive, Lafayette Police spokesman Cpl. Paul Mouton said.

“When we stopped him today, he was in that van,” Mouton said.

The purse snatching Wednesday came after police had secured an arrest warrant for Alfred in a Dec. 15 incident at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

In that case, Alfred faces a count of attempted simple robbery in approaching a woman on campus and demanding her car keys, according to police.

Police said the woman was able to activate ULL’s emergency phone alert system, and the would-be robber fled.

Mouton said that in addition to the attempted simple robbery case, Alfred was booked Wednesday on one count of purse snatching in Wednesday’s incident, one count of illegal possession of stolen things and four counts of armed robbery.

One of the armed robbery charges is in connection with the stolen van and the others are related to three similar incidents this month in which Alfred allegedly stole a woman’s vehicle at gunpoint, the first one on Dec. 10, he said.